Re: ‘Phooey on fluoride’ letter to the editor, Dec. 12
Editor:
I remember the loud outcries the rest of Pinellas County emitted when County Commission passed fluoridation, despite all the scientific evidence against it from medical authorities! No matter – Commission passed it then, years ago.
As a 35-year certified Nurse Practitioner, Professor Emerita, former elected official, and co-author of an internationally distributed 1,049-paqe pharmacology text, I researched the topic in deep. What I found, and I reported to the commission, was that there was no proven benefit to fluoridating all of us, and much to be wary of: hip fractures in the elderly, poorly designed research for the purpose of disposing of a hazardous waste from phosphate mining … and, get this … taxpayers actually paying for drinking unlimited non-potable water while swallowing the potentially very misleading sales job. Certain groups of the public are advised against it by professionals: those with cardiovascular diseases, or with diabetes (as their disease makes them even thirstier), babies under 6 months, and others I researched.
Clearwater residents have had a reprieve from this unnecessary drinking water additive that was never tested correctly many years ago, and added in amounts to our drinking water that are too close to toxic levels to be safe. Even cattle wading in outfall from the phosphate plants that are high concentrations of fluorosilicic acid (fluoride, in this case) that destroyed cattle’s bony structures such that they were photographed then, struggling to walk on their knees.
This is no joke. I am not kidding: fluoridation history repeats itself. We already absorb too much from eating vegetables that concentrate it, from toothpaste endorsed by dental associations for a price.
I could go on. But all I can say is I am SO disappointed that Clearwater has caved in.
Commission eventually insisted none of this was true and did a poorly worded telephone survey with mediocre results, and then adopted the plan to fluoridate us all.
Later, we discovered that one of the commissioners “innocently” benefited!
The public had done its due diligence. We were ignored. I know, like many of us, we are seeing that behavior normalized now, but it is still wrong.
I am not kidding. This IS Pinellas county’s past history repeating itself.
Sandy Oestreich, Licensed Nurse Practitioner
Tampa
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